Machine for settling and compacting flour in bags



March 4, 1941.

H. ANDERSON MACHINE FOR SETTLING AND COMPACTING FLOUR IN BAGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 A Inventor-z Helmer- An g 1 W degsoz torriey Filed July 14, 1939 March 4, 1941. H. ANDERSON 2,234,069

MACHINE FOR SETTLING AND COMPACTING FLOUR IN BAGS Filed July 14, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inven'kor: Heat er- Aner-soni March 4, 1941. ANDERSON 2,234,069

' MACHINE FOR SETTLING AND COMPACTING FLOUR IN BAGS Filed July 14; 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 m 8 51/ N :0 \9 a r K1 2 m (0 T H m w g} (9) Q N o o o o a "i D") 0'') l t2 Inventor;

Helmer An arson fitterne 1 March 4, 1941. ANDERSON 2,234,069

MACHINE FOR SETTLING AND COMPACTING FLOUR IN mes Filed July 14, 1939, 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig-6 se 78 l I l n3 m as v -92 4-2 97 is 9e 98 99 v,

I Inventor-1 fitter-neg.

\ '7" Helmer A clerson.

March 4, 1941. ANDERSON 2,234,069

7 MACHINE FOR SETTLING AND COMPACTING FLOUR IN BA GS Filed July 14, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ma 9| as 6.0-

Inventor-z HeL er 1W 5W fitter-n23,

Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES MACHINE Fort BET'IIJNG AND comac'r- ING noon in BAGS 4 Helmer Anderson, Minneapolis, Minn., asslgnor to General Mills, Inc.', a corporation of Delaware Application July 14, 1939, Serial No. 284,423

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for use in the milling industry which will improve the packaging of any kind of granular material,- but more especially fiour'in containers or paper bags by 5 providing a table for supporting said bags and means for reciprocating and agitating said table obliquely forwardly upward and downwardly backward in a horizontal position for settling and compacting said material by jogging in said bags with most of its entrained air removed'therefrom prior to closing the open end thereof.

The machines that are now being used receive bags filled with flour on a continuous moving vibrating or non-vibrating belt which feed the bags forwardly thereon during the moving cycle against stationary protruding obstructions that engage the side walls of the bags'for the purpose of indenting the same, thereby displacing and agitating the material therein, or as used on other machines, said moving belt is only a primary feed conveyor placed ahead of a vibrating fiat receiving panel which only joggles thereon vertically up and down the bags filled with flour, the forward progress of said bags is accomplished only by the moving of a continuous line of bags on the primary moving conveyor, these moving bags are the only means used to cause the bags on the vibrat ing panel to move forwardly. It can be readily understood that the forward progress of the bags on the vibrating panel stops when the primary conveyor is empty, and the bags which are then left on said panel move only vertically up and down.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a machine for settling and compacting flour in a single bag, or a plurality of bags in which there is a rigid self sustaining frame member having assembled therewith supporting means and mov able means which operate with suitable velocity 49 for reciprocating laterally of said frame obliquely forwardly upward and downwardly backward in a horizontal position a bag carrying table, said table having thereon adjustable vertical supporting members for retaining one or more paper 45 bags filled with a predetermined amount of flour in a vertical position while they are being moved individually by said table movement in a forward joggling like manner along the table face, during which cycle the flour is caused to settle and com- 50 pact in the bag with the entrained air being removed therefrom, thus providing at the end of said cycle a bag filled with flour having suitable dimensional form and size with its contents so firmly compacted that further settling of the flour 55 is substantially eliminated.

A further and highly important object of my invention is to provide a machine for settling and compacting flour in a bag or bags, whereby the reciprocating oblique forward-backward movement of the bag-carrying table can differentiate 5 from the reciprocating forward movement of the bags filled with flour along the table in order to provide a joggling forward motion to the said bags upon the table face, said juggling motion of the bags being caused by the abutting force 10 contact between the bag bottom and table face, due to the table being moved down faster than the bag can drop down from its upper level during the backward reciprocating stroke, .thus leaving the bag momentarily freely suspended before it is abuttingly engaged by force with the table face on each of its forward reciprocating strokes.

Another object of my invention is to provide a machine for settling and compacting flour in a bag whereby some of the means attached thereto can be replaced or varied in design for the purpose of changing the limits of the oblique forward-backward movement an d the reciprocating movement of the flour bag-carrying table, each of the means operating in combination with each other to cause said table to move a bag filled with flour vertically thereon in a forward reciprocating Juggling manner. t

A further object of my invention is to provide a machine for settling and compacting flour in a bag, having means that operate in combination with a bag-carrying table for the purpose of maintaining said table in a level horizontal position during the reciprocating oblique forward-backward movement of said table. 35

It is a further object of my invention in combination with a machine for settling and compacting flour in a bag, to provide a bag-carrying table having extending perpendicular from its bag supporting face, adjustable side walls which 40 retain the bags in an upright vertical position in an interior passageway between said walls during the reciprocating forward movement of the bags filled with a predetermined amount of flour on said table.

It is a further object of my invention to have in combination with a machine for settling and compacting flour in a bag, means in combination with said machine for driving a bag feed conveyor which is suitably supported, and in abutted alinement relation at the receiving end of said settling and compacting machine, to provide carrying means for supplying bags filled with a predetermined amount of flour from said conveyor to an obliquely reciprocating forward and backward moving table on the flour compacting and settling machine.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent when considered with the following description and accompanying drawings, but it is to be understood that various changes r'nay be made within the scope of theclaims which follow.

The invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the entire machine with the bag feed conveyor unit attached to the unit for settling and compacting fiour in a bag with parts of the conveyor structure broken away.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view thru the unit for settling and compacting flour in a bag and part of the feed conveyor, showing in full and dotted lines a plurality of bags filled with flour on the bag-carrying table and the feed conveyor.

Figure 3 is a horizontal plan sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1 showing the driving mechanism for the bag-carrying table and the detail construction of the feed conveyor with the feed belt removed therefrom.

Figure 4 is a horizontal plan sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1, showing the detail construction of the machine frame used in the unit for settling and compacting flour in a bag with further details of the driving mechanism.

Figure 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view across the front of the unit for settling and compacting flour in a bag, taken on the line 66 of Fig. 2 showing a bag filled with fiour in a vertical position between the vertical side walls on the flour bag-carrying table.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary verticaltransverse sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2

showing the reciprocating mechanism used incombination with the flour bag-carrying table.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary vertical transverse sectional view on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2 showing an end view of some of the driving means and its supporting frames.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary plan view of the feed conveyor and the front portion of the flour settling and compacting unit, showing the ad- Justable means used in combination with the vertical side wall used for supporting in a vertical position the bags filled with a predetermined amount of flour.

Figure 9 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of part of the entire machine similar to Fig. 1, but showing a modified form of mechanism used for the purpose of maintaining the flour bag-carrying table -in a level horizontal position.

Figure 10 is a rear view of Figure 9 as seen from the rear of the machine on the line |l|-||i of Figure 9.

Referring to the drawings the entire assembled apparatus consists of two units which will be referred to by numerals l6 and i2. The machine I6, provides means for settling and compacting the flour F, contained in a bag or bags, and has mounted therein a fiour bag-carrying table II,

, that is obliquely reciprocated forwardly upward and downwardly backward in a horizontal position, said table receiving either direct from an operator or from the bag feed conveyor unit l2, the containers or bags B, which are filled with flour F, by a bag filling machine. I have shown in the drawings the two units in and i2, as-

sembled together for use in combination with each other and will describe them as shown.

The frame structure of the machine I0. is constructed of suitable material to withstand the continuous reciprocating action of the various machine parts during the movin and juggling of the bag or bags on the table fl. structure as shown in Figures 1, 3 and 7, comprises a pair of vertical reinforc d right and left hand side frame members l3 a d H, which are united together by means 0 transverse cross bars l6, I1 and I6, the beari g brackets 26 and 2| and the adjustable motor pport 22, by means of bolts 23, to form a rigid elf sustaining frame member for supporting t e driving and driven parts which are enclosed thin its structure.

The means for driving the various machine parts consist of an electric motor 24, supported by means of bolts 26, to the adjustable motor support 22, and has extending therefrom a shaft 26, that has fastened thereto at its outer extremity a flexible coupling 21, having an extension shaft 28, keyed thereto. The shaft 28, has also keyed thereto at its other end a flexible coupling 29, which drives by means of shaft 30, a reduction gearing'unit 3|, that drives by means of the sprocket wheel 32, chain 33, the sprocket wheel 34, and the shaft 36, which has keyed thereto the driving pulley 36, of the feed conveyor l2, that will be described in detail later.

Interposed between the coupling 21, and the motor 24, are pulleys 46, that are keyed to the motor shaft26, for the purpose of driving the eccentric shaft 4|, by means ofthe belts 42 and the pulleys 43. The shaft 4|, having secured thereto at 44, the self aligning ball bearings 46. which are supported industproof oil sealed housings 46, of the brackets 26 and 2|. Referring to Figures 2, 5, 6 and '7, it can be readily seen that the entire working load of the machine is carried by said bearings 46, thus I have found it desirable to key on the shaft 4| at 41, a fly wheel 46, so that the speed of said shaft will not fluctuate while the machine is operating. The shaft 4| extends beyond the bearing brackets 20 and 2|, and has integral therewith reduced cylindrical extensions 46 and 60, whose center lines are in alinement with each other but are not in alinement with the center line of the main portion of shaft 4|, which is supported in the bearings 46. The purpose of this construction is to'have onshaft 4|, at 49 and 60, a pair of eccentric extensions that support at 6| and 62, self aligning ball bearings 63 and 64.

The rotating of shaft 4|, will impart by means of the eccentrics 49 and 66, a reciprocating movement to the outer rings of the bearings 63 and 64, which are encased in the adjustable pitmans or connecting rods 66. These connecting rods 65, have a resilient universal ball and socket connection 66, in depending-members 61, on the bottom surface of the bag-carrying plate adjacent its ends which in combination with the eccentrics 49 and 60, on rotating shaft 4|. operatesaid plate in a reciprocating vertical direction, butother means working in combination therewith cause the plate II, to move in a forward-upward oblique direction during the upstroke of the eccentrics, and in a downward-backward direction during the downstroke of the eccentrics while other means retain said plate II, in a horizontal level position during its reciprocating oblique forward and backward movement. I have shown ,.in Figures 2, 5 and 6, elevational and sectional views of the table and the various means for iii) escapee a 3.

operating and guiding it during the oblique reciprocating forward-backward movement with the bags B filled with a predetermined amount of flour assembled thereon.

Extending vertically from the face surface of plate ii, on its right and left hand edges, diametrically opposite each other, adjacent the front and rear extremities of said plate and integral therewith, are roller supports 88 and 59,

having extending outwardly therefrom hearing I pins 80, for rotatably retaining thereon a cylindrical roller 8i. Each-roller extends into an elongated oblique aperture 52, within individual guide plates 83, that are retained by means of bolts as, to the upright members 65 and 66, on the right and left hand corners of the frame members is and M. The apertures 62, as shown in Figures 1 and 9 do not extend vertically within the plates 83, relatively to the face surface of plate H, but extend upwardly and forwardly in an oblique line for the purpose of causing the plate ii to reciprocate in a forward and back ward direction when operated by the pitmans or connecting rods 55, and the eccentrics t9 and W, on shaft 6|. It can be, readily understood that the limits of the oblique forward-upward and downward-backward travel of plate ii, will' eccentrics, thus regulating the bag ioggling period or the time required for the bag B to travel the complete length of the table ii, in order to completely'settle and compact the flour in the For retaining the plate 9 i, in a horizontal plane during the movementei the connecting rods 55, and to prevent sideward movement of said plate and its connecting rod connections during the moving and joggling of the bag on said plate, I have provided a pair of guide brackets 61 and 88, which are pivotally mounted on shoulder bolts 69, in hubs it, integral with extensions ii and 12, on the frame members it and i i. These guide brackets 61 and 58, consists of a pair of extending arms i3 and it, connected together by a transverse arm ill, to form a. rigid bracket member for receiving at their outer extremities in bearing hubs l6, extending pins 1 l, of brackets 18 and 19, which extend downwardly from the lower surface of plate ii, proximate to the right and left of connections 55 and 57. This construction is shown in Figure 1 thru Figure 8, it being necessary to assemble the brackets 6i and 88, at an angle with reference to the oblique angle of the aperture 62, so that the center line of the arms 18 and it, extendingthru the pins as and 17, will be at right angle to the center line extending thru the length of the oblique aperture 62. The aperture 62, must also be made wide enough to prevent binding action of the rollers 6i, within theapertures when the plate ii, is reciprocating, due to the circular movement of the brackets 61 and 68, about the shoulder bolts 68.

In Figures 9 and 10, I have provided another form of construction for maintaining the plate ii, and its cooperating parts in the positions just referred to, it being understood that like reference numerals will be used in these figures where corresponding details are used. The brackets 61 and B8, are replaced by the guiding links 86, 8i, 82 and 33 while the brackets 78 and is, are replaced by projections 86, which are integral with the bottom of the plate ii. The

links 80 and 82, are pivoted on shafts 85, at their lower extremities to frame extensions 86, and have pivotally mounted thereto at their upper extremities 81, links 8i and 83, said links being pivotally connected to projections 84, by means of the shafts 88. The links di' and 83 are each made in integral pairs while the links 88 and B2 are in unattached pairs. This linkage connection between the frames and plate ii, provides a means whereby sets of plates 88, having various oblique apertures 82 therein may be interchanged to provide different angles of the slot to give different forward speeds without replacing the link connection as would be the case in the .guide bracket construction 81! and 68, shown in Figures lthru 8. In this linkage connection of Figures 9 and 10, the links or arms 80 and 82, rotate about their axis 85, in a forward and backward direction while the arms 8! and 83, will rotate up and down about their axis 81, each set of arms working in combination with each other and in synchronism with the reciprocating forward-backward movement of plate II. the means for counteracting any angular changes in the apertures 62, without replacing or changing any of its parts, thus the speed of the forward progress of the bags filled with flour F, along the surface of table H, can be readily changed by the replacement of the plates 88,-.

The bags B, are retained in a vertical position on the plate H, by means of the adjustable vertical projecting side members 89, as best shown in Figures 1, 2, 5 and 8. Said members 89, are designed as shown in Figure 5, to engage the said contour of the bags when filled with flour F, and are retained on plate H, by means of cap screws 90, in the elongated apertures 9|, which are the adjusting means for positioning said side members 89, to fit the contour'of the different sizes of bags that are now used for retaining various belttZ, and tensions same by means of said spring 81, which is anchored at one end to the frame i3, at 99, its other end being attached at Hill. to arm mi, of the bracket 95.

The unit i0, having been describcd'as a mechanism for compacting and settling flour F, in a bag, as has already been referred to, a bag feed conveyor I2, is secured thereto in alinement with table II. The shaft 35, is journaled in bearings W2, which are retained within bearing retainer extensions I03, on frame members i8 and id. Said extensions support in combination with the cap screws its, the rear portion of the longitudinal side members W5 and I06, which together with the integral transverse tie bars till, form the conveyor frame ind, the front of which is supported by means of the standards 80?, in the adjustable supports its, secured to the side members "it, and iild Adjacent the rear supports M8, and integral with members we and M6, are bearings M9, for receiving the driven shaft i iii, and its attached pulley M2. Said, shaft and pulley being driven by the endless conveyor belt H3, which is driven by the driving pulley 86,

and the sprocket wheel or pulley 34, heretofore referred to. The belt I I3, as best Illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 consists of an endless belt extending from the periphery of pulley II2, thence over 5 the face surface of plate Ill, and then around half of the periphery of pulley 35, where it then returns back to its engagement with, and from the periphery of pulley H2. The plate H4, is supported on frame I08,- by means of countersunk head screws I 25, in the cross bars I01, for supporting the bags filled with flourF, when fed along said conveyor belt to the table II. The conveyor belt H3, is tensioned by the idler pulley H5, said pulley being rotatable on shaft 0, in the idler supporting bracket 1 I1, which is freely mounted on shaft H8, in hubs H9, on frame member I08, its tensioning position is regulated by means of the cap screws I20, in the arms of bracket Ill, and the apertures I2I, in the members I05 and vI06. The side member I06, has secured thereto by means of cap screws'i22, a vertical longitudinal skeleton'frame member I23, for guiding the bags on the conveyor belt I I3, so that said belt can move them onto the plate II, said member I23, is assisted by an angular shaped ad- Justable guide member I24, on plate I, which is adjusted by means of the cap screws I20, in the plate H4, and the apertures I20, in the base flange of member I20, said flange being raised to clear the conveyor belt when projecting over the face surface of said belt.

Located independently at the discharge end of table II, is a conveyor I30, that may be used for carrying the bags of flour F, away from the machine I0, after they have been subjected to the reciprocating forward movement on table II.

Operation The machine in combination as herein disclosed may be interposed between a bag filling machine and a bag top closing machine so that the bags can be delivered either, directly onto the conveyor belt H3, or upon the table I I, of the settling and compacting machine, from the bag 5 filling machine, or from some other source of supply, When the bags are placed onto the conveyor belt 3, they move with said belt in a vertical upright position between the'members I23, and I24, onto the obliquely reciprocating for-' the table I I, are subjected to a reciprocating forward iosgling movement across the table caused by the contacting engagement between the table.v 1.

and the bag filled with flour 1''. The table is caused to move in a horimntal position obliquely forwardly upward and obliquely downwardly backward in a reciprocating motion at the desired speed or velocity so that the bags thereon will be joggled along in a forward direction on said table, during said jogging movement the flour F,

in the bags will be so firmly compacted that further settling of the flour F, is practically eliminated, thus preparing said bags of flour F,

link having a universal connection at one end with v the table and an actuating crank for the link which moves in a plane at a right angle to the plane of movement of the table for thus rapidly reciprocating said table up and down in said supporting and guiding means to advance bags along said table as the material therein is settled and compacted.

2. In apparatus for settling and compacting flour in bags, a horizontally disposed table, means for supporting and guiding said table to permit the table to move only obliquely upwardly and forwardly or downwardly and backwardly with a parallel motion, a shaft journalled beneath the table and extending longitudinally thereof, and eccentrics carried by said shaft and having universal-Joints at their ends connected to the bottom of the table for rapidly reciprocating said table up and down in said supporting and guiding means to advance bags along said table as the material therein is settled and compacted.

3. In apparatus for settling and compacting flour inbags, a horizontally disposed table, a supporting frame, linkage means connecting the forward and rear portions of said table to said frame for keeping the table horizontal, reciprocable means on said frame adjacent each linkage and universally connected to said table for rapidly vibrating the table up and down, guide plates secured alongside the table and having oblique apertures extending upwardly and forwardly, and

pins carried by said table movable in said apertures to cause the table to be moved upwardlyforwardly and downwardly-backwardly when vibrated by said vibrating means to settle and compact flour in bags and to advance the bags along the table at a rate determined by the angle of obliquity of the apertures.

HELMER ANDERSON. 

